Light Me Up
by Ari Moriarty
Summary: Written for the magnificent Miss Hanamura. Naoto Shirogane attends a dear friend's theatrical performance, and finds herself falling in love with the magic of the stage. Naoto x OC.


**Author's Note: **I wrote this for one of my favorite, remarkably talented authors, **Miss Hanamura, **based on her original character, Erin Suzuki**.** I certainly hope that I did her character at least a little bit of justice. Her writing is magical and touching, and deserves a little better than I can give her, but here, for what it's worth, is a little homage to a remarkable talent.

**Light Me Up**

"Ouch!" shrieked Rise. "Kanji! Watch where you're jabbing that elbow!"

"Sorry, sorry," muttered Kanji. "It's just really dark in here…I can't see a thing. Hey, Yosuke-senpai, is that you?"

Suddenly, Yukiko started giggling uncontrollably "No, it's not," she informed him.

The embarrassment in Kanji's voice was deeply evident, as he muttered, "Crap, uh…right. Sorry, senpai."

Naoto Shirogane just rolled her eyes. Most of the time, she genuinely did enjoy the company of her Inaba friends, more than she'd really enjoyed spending time with anyone her own age for as long as she could reasonably remember. Still, at times like this, she was amazed by how childishly they could behave. It was as though none of them had even been to a theater before. The lights may have been dimmed, as the audience held its collective breath, awaiting the start of the show, but it wasn't as dark as they were making it out to be. There was a time and a place, thought Naoto, for goofing off and displaying this kind of rampant silliness, but this was certainly not that time or that place. A stage play was a significant cultural event, to be treated with reverence and respect. She was having a hard time keeping a handle on her temper, which was unusual for her. She couldn't bear the idea of them spoiling the show for the audience, for the other performers, or perhaps most significantly, for the one girl that they'd all come most expressly to see.

"Hey, be quiet!" hissed Yosuke urgently. "I think it's starting!"

Sure enough, the lights slowly came up on the stage, illuminating the base of the curtain as it raised itself bit by bit into the air on invisible strings. The audience made appropriate noises of awe and inspiration, as the leading actress walked out to take her place in the center of the stage.

"Wow," whispered Rise, leaning over as she breathed into Naoto's ear. "She looks beautiful…don't you think so, Naoto-kun?"

Naoto didn't have an answer to that. She was too busy gazing at the girl on the stage, a girl dressed in a magnificent prince's robe, adorned with stars and lengths of black brocade. As the words began to tumble musically from the girl's mouth, she raised both her arms in the air in a grandly triumphant gesture, and her eyes sparkled with a passion that lent a sort of majestic extravagance to the overall portrayal. Erin, who was always so hesitant and submissive in their day to day interactions, turned into someone totally different when she entered the world of theater…and yet, reflected Naoto, at the same time, it wasn't different at all. Every piece of that character on the stage was Erin, and Naoto relished the experience all the more because she could see and find Erin in every action and gesture of the role. If only, she thought with a little inward sigh, someone could make Erin away of how she shone through each part.

"Yes," remarked Naoto softly, more to herself than to any of the others. "Yes, she certainly does look lovely."

It was remarkable, thought Naoto, as the other players began to take the stage. Something about the way Erin moved just lit up the stage in a way that none of the overhead or footlights could ever do. Before joining the team, Naoto had never considered herself someone who particularly enjoyed the theater. Plays and suchlike were always so annoyingly grandiose, and the very unrealistic fiction that they put forth into the world just tended to make her irritated and dissatisfied with the way people turned more readily towards escapism, and away from the cold hard facts that turned her universe around. She'd avoided the theater, even when personal friends of hers had invited or cajoled her into attending. It had always been, she'd decided, a waste of her valuable time.

After meeting Erin, however, things had changed. Erin had a presence that captured Naoto's attention, and made her believe in fantasies and fictions that she wouldn't otherwise have spent a spare moment on. When Erin took on a role, that role became reality, and for the first time Naoto began to welcome the moments of delicious self-release that she could obtain from watching Erin take on fiction and turn it into something that stood in that realm just behind and beyond the facts.

"Nao-chan," asked Teddie, his voice standing out far too starkly in the silence that had overtaken the theater, "do you think we can get snacks during the intermission? I'm beary hungry…"

"Be quiet," Naoto instructed him. "This is hardly the time to think about your stomach."

It was hardly the time to think about anything at all, she reflected, other than the magic that Erin was crafting out of hands, words, and the beauty of the suspension of disbelief.

When the show was over, Naoto managed to separate herself from her enthusiastic compatriots just long enough to make her way to the backstage door, where she found several family members and personal friends already clamoring for the chance to get in. Some of the actors who'd been in the show were wandering around, still in costume, basking in the glow of praise from their loved ones and peers.

Erin, unfortunately, was nowhere to be seen.

Naoto waited there for several minutes, until her own sense of pragmatism got the better of her. This was ridiculous, she realized, feeling herself flush a bit with embarrassment and frustration as she tried not to be disappointed. After all, what had she expected? She knew better than to stand around and wait for attention like this, especially from a girl like Erin, who was probably incredibly busy right now with theatrical tasks and clean-up duties. It was childish for her to be needy enough to wait here, as though she would be the first thing on Erin's mind when the show was over.

It was only after Naoto had turned away, and taken two steps back towards where she'd left the rest of the team that she heard a hesitant voice call out from somewhere behind her.

"Oh, Naoto-kun!" exclaimed Erin, sounding both surprised and unabashedly delighted at the same time. "You came! You really came! I didn't think you would."

Naoto spun around again to find Erin standing there, having changed out of her stage costume into her pleasantly familiar attire of light blue top and brown shorts. She was beaming all over her face, looking incredulous and clasping her hands together in a gesture of distinctly joyful gratitude.

"Of course I came," murmured Naoto, feeling unexpectedly confused in the face of all of this enthusiastic pleasure. "You asked me to come. I would hardly refuse to come and see a performance that you've so clearly put a great deal of time and effort into. Your work was commendable, and the results are more than apparent. You should be very proud of what you've accomplished here."

"So…you liked it?" asked Erin. "I wasn't sure you would…I mean, you're not usually a fan of fairytale stuff like this, and I…I dropped at least three of my lines."

"It was not apparent," Naoto assured her. "Yes, thank you. I enjoyed the play very much."

Together, the two girls began heading back towards the entrance, where Naoto could already hear Yosuke and Kanji's voices raised in what she could only assume was one of their usual arguments, which seemed to her to be put on mostly for show, and apparently to exercise their jaws more than their intellects.

"This really means a lot to me," murmured Erin. "I mean, that you thought it was worth coming all this way just to see me perform. You didn't have to, you know."

Suddenly, Erin slipped her hand into Naoto's, and Naoto started, but found herself unwilling to pull her own hand away.

"As I said before," she managed, swallowing against a feeling of something light and airy that had begun to rise within her chest. "It was my pleasure."


End file.
